Katharine Tynan Hinkson (1861–1931)

SWEET is the sweet May weather,

Trees go airy and bright,

Winged with the gold-green feather,

Veiled in the deep-sea light.

Clad in the emerald silk,

All a-flutter, a-glitter;

Blossoms white as the milk,

Never were roses sweeter.

Leafy shadows, all dancing,

Lovely in shine and shower,

Ever twinkling and glancing,

Birds have built them a bower.

Lord of the leaf and tree,

When ’tis time for my going,

Leafing time let it be,

Neither snowing nor blowing!

After that journey taken

Let me open my eyes

To woods by a May-wind shaken,

Full of the birds’ replies!

Paradise woods in Spring,

Scarcely than Earth’s were sweeter;

Every leafs on the wing,

All a-flutter, a-glitter.

Paradise woods in commotion,

Tossed in a heavenly May;

After the bitter ocean,

Dear and homelike were they.

Lord of the world to be,

Build me no jasper palace,

But the young leaf on the tree,

And the young bloom on the trellis!